Flying Witch nails it with another excellent episode, but this one was dedicated primarily to introducing another main character of the cast – a character named Inukai who is also a witch, who turns out to be an old friend of Makoto’s older sister (the incredibly talented genius in casting spells we met in episode 2) Akane, and is the subject of the title of episode 4, which is named: “A Fortune Teller Veiled in the Cherry Blossoms”. For those who remember the previous episode, Makoto and Kei were talking about viewing the cherry blossoms on their way home right before they met with Akane, who had popped up out of the blue dressed in the garb of a desert nomad. Well, following that narrative much of the first part of this episode was about seeing those blossoms they were discussing – and unsurprisingly alongside the cherry blossom viewing that was under way there were also festival booths and the rest – both food and entertainment.

Let me take this point to make an aside on the series thus far. There have been many aspects about it that have been extremely well done, but one area that has continuously stood out for me has been the art, and this episode is no exception – I thought the drawings of the cherry blossoms were downright masterful, in particular the ones that showed the blossoms and their falling petals (at the speed of five centimeters per second, of course XD) reflected in the river at the very beginning and the very end of the episode: to be honest those scenes took my breath away a little. The backgrounds of the buildings and the nature have been consistently excellent, and have only served to enrich something that was already masterful!

Okay then, having gushed praise for that aspect of the series then we come back to the main story. Kei and Makoto have brought along Chinatsu to see the blossoms and enjoy the festival with them, and while Chinatsu thinks the flowers are pretty and all (though she blindsides Makoto when she says that she is prettier than any blossoms) she is definitely more interested in enjoying the festival food and games. Candy apples, cotton candy, etc. are all summarily devoured, yes, and she is raring to try out the “string lottery” as well. Before she gets her chance to do so, however, Makoto gets inspired to try out the haunted house, and she and Chinatsu (literally) drag Kei through the front door despite his protesting all the time. The next thing we see is all three running out the exit screaming and laughing.

It is here that the three of them finally meet the main new character, the aforementioned fortune teller (and witch, she has a hamster for a familiar) named Inukai who is an old friend of Akane and ran afoul of some high powered cursed magical chocolates Akane whipped up on a whim about a year ago and has since been cursed to have the physical form of a furry when the sun is out (she reverts to her human form at night). Understandably this has put quite the dent in her day to day life, and her being upset is compounded by a suspicion that Akane tricked her into eating the chocolates while they were drunk together. Well, after a well meaning but rather unsuccessful attempt on Makoto’s part to help break the spell on Inukai (she turns her in a full blown dog) Akane pops up out of the blue, floating down from the sky, much to Makoto and Inukai’s amazement (Chinatsu doesn’t bat an eyelash, once again showing her quick ability to adapt to new circumstances – probably inherited this from her mother).

After Inukai practically bites Akane’s head off, the latter reminds her that it was Inukai herself who ate the chocolate, and did so even with Akane repeatedly warning her not to do so … Inukai remembers and is mortified, and before she takes her leave she apologizes to everyone. It just so happens that night began to fall right around the time she was taking her leave, though, so we get a glimpse of Inukai’s original human form – and she is shown to be an extremely beautiful woman. As Inukai is flying on her broom through the night sky above the festival and the cherry blossoms leaning out over a river back to her fortune telling stand it becomes clear that we will likely be seeing more of this fun-loving, impulsive and quick-tempered addition to an already endearing cast! ^^

Am curious to see where the next episode will lead … it appears that it will be titled something similar to “How to get the best use from one’s familiar”, so may focus on Chito, but now that we have Akane’s cat familiar Kenny and Inukai’s hamster familiar Al (where did they find that tiny bow tie he wears?) any of them could also come into the forefront. Speaking of where small things might lead … I just wanted to give a heads up to those who are unaware of something – a mini series is also airing at the same time as Flying Witch titled “Flying Witch Petite”, and it is a two minute or so short of completely cgi animation. It is not so bad.

Finally, thanks for the screenshots to Takai at random c dot net. This week has been insanely busy! Apologies for the late post as well!